REGION: I-215 not threatened by revenue drop, officials say

DAVE DOWNEY - ddowney@californian.com

Despite a steep decline in the chief source of cash for highway
projects in western Riverside County, transportation officials say
the planned widening of Interstate 215 in Murrieta and Highway 91
in Corona ---- two of the area's most congested commutes ---- won't
be knocked off track.

That's because both projects are top priorities for the
Riverside County Transportation Commission, which determines where
to spend regional transportation dollars.

"Projects like 215 ---- they were needed yesterday," said John
Standiford, deputy executive director for the commission. And as
for Highway 91, he said, "it's such an important project that it
will probably go forward as planned."

However, falling revenues could delay other improvements.

"While projects aren't being shelved, they may need to be moved
out a couple of years," said Bob Magee, a Lake Elsinore councilman
and county transportation commissioner.

But there is a positive side to the decline.

During the last deep recession in the 1990s, the region was able
to "catch up" on road work that previously hadn't kept pace with
furious population and traffic growth, said Ron Roberts, a Temecula
councilman who serves on the commission. Roberts said Riverside
County will do the same during this recession.

While revenue is coming in slower than in the past, Roberts said
that vehicle traffic isn't growing. And he said projects the
commission manages to build will put the region a little ahead of
the curve.

The commission is composed of the five Riverside County
supervisors and one official from each of the county's 26
cities.

The agency's chief source of money for freeways is Measure A, a
half-penny-on-the-dollar sales tax. In an era of declining state
and federal funding, it covers about two-thirds of the cost of
those projects.

Worse than expected

That revenue is falling, however.

The commission was told last month that collections are plunging
faster than anyone expected.

After peaking at nearly $160 million per year at the height of
the housing boom, Measure A revenue fell just shy of $120 million
last year. This year, collections are on pace to generate just $106
million.

Anne Mayer, executive director, said the commission would prefer
collections rebound toward the record of $157.2 million set in 2006
and the more than $150 million collected in 2007.

"But those were extreme numbers that we're not likely to see
again for a while," Mayer said.

As a result, the agency is having to reshuffle project
priorities and schedules.

However, any reshuffling won't affect the $63 million project to
widen I-215 to six lanes between the Interstate 15-215 split and
Scott Road, Standiford said.

"It shouldn't change the timing, because that project is well on
its way to development," he said. "It should start construction
near the end of this year or early next year, unless there is some
catastrophic elimination of state transportation funding."

The region was awarded $38 million in Proposition 1B bond money
for I-215.

"This is a project that remains near the top of the priority
list, if not at the top," Standiford said.

He said the new lanes should open on time, in early 2013.

But because of the sharp decline, that's as far as I-215
improvements will go. Roberts said there is no money on hand to
continue widening the highway north of Scott.

"So all we're going to do, by doing this expansion down here, is
shift the stop-and-go traffic further north," Roberts said. "But I
guess that's better than nothing."

Toll revenues to the rescue

The other big regional project that may not be affected by the
revenue decline is the one in Corona.

Highway 91 will need Measure A money, Standiford said, but most
of the $1 billion cost will be paid through toll-backed
financing.

The project entails adding two all-purpose lanes on Highway 91
between I-15 and the Orange County line, and four express lanes for
car pools and toll-paying solo drivers.

The commission also intends to build a bridge that will
literally pave the way for toll-paying commuters on I-15 to steer
directly into 91 express lanes.

Standiford said the project should start in 2012 and be
completed in 2017.

"The taxpayers will continue to see improvements to the 91,"
said Magee, the commissioner from Lake Elsinore. "The one eastbound
lane is being built right now (between Highways 241 and 71). Our
goal is to develop car-pool and toll lanes on the Riverside County
side of the 91, and to eventually work on a flyover to the I-15
that would allow toll lanes to go from Lake Elsinore all the way
into Orange County in one continuous travelway."

One of Southern California's busiest freeways, Highway 91
carries 300,000 vehicles per day and is the primary link between
Riverside County commuters and their Orange County and Los Angeles
jobs. It long has been a top priority for the Measure A
initiative.

Measure A has been around since 1989.

It was intended to last 20 years. Then Riverside County voters
agreed in 2002 to extend the half-cent sales tax beyond 2009, and
it is set to run 30 more years.

Southwest County 'didn't exist'

The first edition of Measure A was monopolized by Riverside-area
projects.

"Back in '89, we didn't exist. We had no voice," Roberts, the
Temecula councilman, said. "Riverside was 45 miles away and the
center of government, and they didn't care about us."

And it showed in the roads that were built.

However, Southwest County is well-represented on the projects
list for Measure A, Part 2.

Over the next 30 years, the commission plans to widen I-15 by
two lanes from Highway 60 to the San Diego County line, and I-215
by two lanes between Murrieta and San Bernardino County.

Measure A money also was set aside for the complex French Valley
Parkway interchange at I-15 that is due to begin construction later
this year.

And the sales tax is helping to expand Clinton Keith, Scott and
Railroad Canyon/Newport roads.

At the time the extension was brought to voters, officials
predicted 30 more years of sales taxes would generate $4.6 billion.
Then a few years later, Standiford said, money was rolling in so
fast they thought collections would double.

Now they're not sure what to expect.

In any event, Roberts said, the economy will rebound and, when
it does, so will the primary source of transportation revenue in
California's fastest-growing urban county.

"The money will come back in for Measure A, no doubt about it,"
Roberts said.